The Republican journal., 1887-10-27

medium height, with broad shoulders and q
| massive heed. His FACE is large. bcarllcss,
sQuarely cut, with hccrn NJ, Blush gray ewes.
and his collntcnln"o is BRIGHT. attractive and
very winning. Time has made inroads OF,
his hair, AMI his; forehead will soon extend
from his cvclashc; to the lasc of his brain.
He is Il wonderfully clover mimic and he can
screw his face into more shapes that either
Sol Smith Russell o.. Adonis Diycy. Mr..
Field is domestic in his habits, and there is a
wife and four young Fields in his delightful
Chicago home.
At an early age his mother died, and the
embryo hnmoriGt was sent TO amherst.
Mass, where he wa; reared under tho strict
| moral training OF u devoted amt. He fin
iShed his academic education whc, I, vr,r;
of age. His father died soon after, and he
was taken west. After two wears in the
Galesblrg Qlls.l college, he completed his
education at the University of Missouri.
When lie became Of age he received about
$4,000 from his fathers estate In 1871 he
went to Europe, spending months roaming
over the continental countries Tn a fcw
years time his large fortune melted away.
and he entered the profession of journalism.
doing his first work as a reporter on the ST.
Louis papers. Later he found employment
Oh tho Kansas City and Denver press, win
ming his spurs in the latter civ Thcn Inc
came I" Chicago His literary reputation
has b"rn made in the past dozen wears He
is rcGar!r by many as one of tho very fore
most OF Americas younger verse makers,
His verses cover Il very wide rangc--in fact.
from the most g.otessluo burlnsc,lo to the
| most slb!mc :s'ntmcnt. His satirical and
humorous paragraphs have been quoted for
the PAST half dozen years from one End of the
country to tho other Mr. Fields copv is q
study His writing is as clear and beautiful
as copper plato, and so fine that he can read
lily write twenty Verse, eighty line poem on
all ordinary postal card
Mr.. Field and Opic Read arc my warm
friends, yet they are totally ,lssinil,r in
appearance, habits and tastes Mr.. Field is
drcssy, likes society and has the surface ap-
pearancc of man Of the world. Read looks
moro like prosperous farmer than an ac-
complishcd newspaper man. He is six feet
two inches tall, large i'll proportion, with
stopped shoulders, a great big head full of
horse sense. which is running over with hair
that refuses to acknowledge a conventional
combing. He dis!ikcs society, is devoted to
his vito and two children and loves hi,
great big briar root Arkansas pipe next to
constantly dodging "tho village maiden"
who, he alleges, makes him very, very weary.
His dark brown eyes arc ever smiling, and
his heavy, dropping lnustachc is full Of good
nature. Hc has Ecen 2 close student all his
life, and his range of reading has been Won
derfully wide. He is cIninently child of
nature, and is indeed the last of his race.
When Opie Read dies one of the BRIGHTEST
and most charactcristically American hui
morists of the wcstcr:, type will cease to OK
list. His character dialect sketches, his breezy
paragraphs and his wonderfully clever stories
are familiar to newspaper readers everywhere.
He is one Of the trucst and most natural men
ever met. He is slowly adding the finishing
touches to a book that is destined to create a
sensation whom it appears. 1t will I've 4 novel
of 800 pages, and is called the ''Backiog" It
is q story Of western life, and every charac-
ter i'll it is from real life. Mr.. Read has rc-
written the story four times and still he is
not satisfied with it.
Mr.. Read is 81 years of age He was born
in Gallatin, Tenn, where his aged mother
still resides. He did his first lcwsparcr work
i'll Franklin, KY, and has boon connected at